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No lunch break? Fuck that.
Kingthlayer
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
My fiancee works at a taco bell/kfc and she just told me that she hasn't had a lunch break in three days. She's working eight hours a day. She doesn't seem to realize what the big deal about that is so I'm taking up her cause for her -- who do I inform about this? If she's not getting one then obviously the other employees aren't getting one and I'm really pissed off about that. I hate companies who walk all over their employees and I'm not letting her be taken advantage of like that.
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Edit: Technically if she doesn't take this break they can pay her for only 7.5 hours, also, which they might be doing if they are trying to screw her.
edit: I checked the better business bureau website and it seemed like that might not be in their jurisdiction, but if it is then I'll contact them monday.
There are government mandated breaks depending on your state probably. But I've worked through breaks ever since I've had a job, not because I was refused a break, just that I didn't really feel the need to take one.
Before you start running to lawyers, I'd try to find the exact circumstances and reasons for why she isn't taking or getting breaks.
Edit: See, it sounds like she doesn't even really care that much, which says to me, she is making a conscious decision to not take these breaks. And if she gets paid hourly, she's getting paid for all the time she works. If you're worried, double check her next pay stub.
According to her it's because the restaurant is understaffed. Nobody is getting one. And she's not the type to be proactive about things...ever, which is why I'm doing this for her. This isn't the first time this has happened -- they've even had her work 2 hours for free before. I might be overreacting a little bit but god damn it, that's bullshit and not fair to her.
Working for 2 hours for free is bullshit. That I would not tolerate. Missing breaks(but still getting paid) because your short staffed. Meh. I mean you could go a make a big deal about it, but I doubt it would get you anywhere. Your fiance would probably get fired, and the restaurant might get fined. I'd just start looking for a new job.
It's not really hard to do better than KFC.
This is not an allowable reason to fire her, unless she signed a contract saying so, and at Taco Bell I highly doubt they took that much precaution. They are not allowed to fire her for complaining about unfair treatment. If anything, though, they will just wait for the most minor screw up and use that as an excuse, but as for her getting fired for complaining? Won't/can't happen.
She's well it's an unpaid break, right
So she's working 8 hours and getting paid for 8 hours work
I'd be more pissed about the two hours of theft
On a side note you're a good man for sticking up for your ladies rights. I get the same way worked up when friends and such get fucked by a job.
Why thank you. Unfortunately my refusal to take one for the company has made it very hard for me to get a job in this area. I think they have a black list or something.
I'll be honest, I have to disagree with Topia. I find it a little upsetting that you're ignoring her wishes; you don't need to go all knight-in-shining-armor for her, and probably shouldn't unless she's asked you to.
Of course that can't fire her for complaining. But most states are at will employment which means they can fire her for no reason. But you're right, they'll probably wait for the tiniest screw up, which will take about a week and in the meantime they'll just treat her like shit.
It's not just for her -- it's for the rest of the laborers as well. It just so happens that I'm engaged to one of them. I can believe that maybe it wasn't such a big deal for her, but I find it hard to believe that every one of the workers in there didn't mind missing their lunch break for the last three days.
If nobody stands up to the companies for things like this, then what was the point of all the labor disputes in this country's history?
She says that I can be exasperating but that she's glad I'm willing to stand up for her.
In this particular case I don't know how much flexibility there'd be(and maybe there is as this is a private company), but I'd check the Dept of Labor's website and the Fair labor act.
If they were to do anything against her for reporting it, what you'd have is a nice, stiff unfair termination lawsuit that you could file.
The thing is, I think the first thing she needs to do is bring it up with them. Let them know that they have to begin staffing the place with enough people so that everyone can take their legally appointed breaks. That's a good first step, see what they say when she says that. If they give her shit, they're cruising for a bruising in the way of stiff fines and possible employee lawsuit.
Unless they just fire her for something else, or for nothing at all, which is super easy if you're an at will employee.
It's probably just a scheduling headache for the manager tbh. Have to make the shift 8.5 hours long so that there's that half hour lunch, but then if they're understaffed you need to have a supervisor on at all times, if she's the only supervisor at the time they go for half an hour without a supervisor technically speaking, blahblahblah. If she wants a break, she should just tell her manager that she's going to start taking her half hour lunch break regularly again and sort it out from there. It's not some gross labour violation that will fine the company thousands and thousands of dollars or create new legislation and it certainly doesn't endanger the lives of others
If your state does have a statute, have all the following things happened yet?
1) Your girlfriend has informed her management that this isn't acceptable?
2) Your girlfriend informed her management that this is not legal?
3) Your girlfriend informed their management that this is not legal?
I think contacting a state agency before actually bringing it up with the management and giving them a chance to rectify things is a little bit of a disproportionate response, don't you?
What you can do however is to encourage her to talk to her management and discuss the issue. Perhaps if it is busy at lunch-time (as I imagine it would be in the food industry) perhaps she can have her break earlier, or later so that it is not taken during rush time.
I just think you are going about this the wrong way.
Good to see you respect her feelings on the matter and her independence, and I bet she loves being treated like a child.
Damn, you're right. That sucks... a lot... but you're right.
http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/flsa/screen6.asp
I always took it for granted that a lot of the things on the list just linked were mandated. No lunch break, even for an 8 hour work day? No requirement for discharge notification? Companies don't even have to give W-2's? How the fuck?
I'm glad you mentioned this Frylock. I sincerely believed that these kinds of (at least to me) extremely basic and fundamental employee rights would be protected by some kind of federal law. It's insane to me that it doesn't, but apparently that's the case. How bizzare and fucked up, if I may say so. But if your girlfriend isn't in one of the states that has the lunch break protection, you're SOL, as much as that sucks and as bastardly as that is.
edit: that includes the time she worked for free too. entitled to a lunch break or not, I'm pretty sure they're gonna get a fine for that one.